1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an energy absorbing structure of a vehicular door.
2. Description of the Related Art Side doors of motor vehicles incorporate an energy absorbing structure for reducing the impact on an occupant body when the occupant body forcefully contacts an inner door side portion thereof that faces the compartment. An example of such a structure is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI 9-71200.
In the disclosed vehicular door energy absorbing structure, as shown in FIG. 9, a first energy absorbing member 72 is disposed on a door inner side of a door trim (also termed "door lining") 70 of a door 78, and a second energy absorbing member 74 having a greater rigidity than the first energy absorbing member 72 is mounted to the first energy absorbing member 72 in such a manner that the second energy absorbing member 74 is disposed closer to an outer panel 76 of the door 78. In this manner, the interval between the second energy absorbing member 74 and an impact beam 82 is reduced. Therefore, if the door 78 is deformed inwards by an impact thereon from the outside in a direction of the width of the vehicle, the impact beam 82 comes into contact with the second energy absorbing member 74 immediately after the first energy absorbing member 72 and the body of an occupant 80 impact.
In this vehicular door energy absorbing structure, however, a space for vertical movements of a door glass pane 84 must be provided between the second energy absorbing member 74 and the impact beam 82. This space needs to have a sufficient width that allows for a play of the door glass pane substantially in the directions of the width of the vehicle. This results in an increased thickness of the door, that is, an increased dimension thereof substantially in the vehicle width directions and therefore a reduced compartment width. Furthermore, if another vehicle crashes into a portion of the door 78 that is remote from the impact beam 82, for example, a portion of the door 78 far above the impact beam 82, deformation of the outer panel 76 does not reduce the interval between the impact beam 82 and the second energy absorbing member 74. That is, the pre-deformation displacement of the second energy absorbing member 74 that occurs before the second energy absorbing member 74 is brought into contact with the impact beam 82 by the body of the occupant 80 pushing the first energy absorbing member 72 is not reduced from the designed interval between the second energy absorbing member 74 and the impact beam 82 in the vehicular door impact absorbing structure. Therefore, the start of energy absorption correspondingly delays. In order to ensure that a desired amount of energy will be absorbed even in the aforementioned case, an energy absorbing member having an increased thickness, that is, an increased dimension in the directions of the vehicle width, needs to be used. In turn, the volume of the interior compartment space reduces.